SearcharxivSearch

arXiv · 1411.5380

Higgs-otic Inflation and String Theory

Abstract

We propose that inflation is driven by a (complex) neutral Higgs of the MSSM extension of the SM, in a chaotic-like inflation setting. The SUSY breaking soft term masses are of order $10^{12}-10^{13}$ GeV, which is identified with the inflaton mass scale and is just enough to stabilise the SM Higgs potential. The fine-tuned SM Higgs has then a mass around 126 GeV, in agreement with LHC results. We point out that the required large field excursions of chaotic inflation may be realised in string theory with the (complex) inflaton/Higgs identified with a continuous Wilson line or D-brane position. We show specific examples and study in detail a IIB orientifold with D7-branes at singularities, with SM gauge group and MSSM Higgs sector. In this case the inflaton/Higgs fields correspond to D7-brane positions along a two-torus transverse to them. Masses and monodromy are induced by closed string $G_3$ fluxes, and the inflaton potential can be computed directly from the DBI+CS action. We show how this action sums over Planck suppressed corrections, which amount to a field dependent rescaling of the inflaton fields, leading to a linear potential in the large field regime. We study the evolution of the two components of the Higgs/inflaton and compute the slow-roll parameters for purely adiabatic perturbations. For large regions of initial conditions slow roll inflation occurs and 50-60 efolds are obtained with r>0.07, testable in forthcoming experiments. Our scheme is economical in the sense that both EWSB and inflation originate in the same sector of the theory, all inflaton couplings are known and reheating occurs efficiently.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

BibTeXRIS

Luis E. Ibanez, Fernando Marchesano, Irene Valenzuela. 2014-11-19. Higgs-otic Inflation and String Theory. https://doi.org/10.1007/jhep01(2015)128

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

Timelike Entanglement from Spacetime Density Matrices: A Lattice Realization

We investigate timelike entanglement in quantum field theory using spacetime density matrices and provide a microscopic lattice realization. For a two-dimensional free real scalar field, we extend Gaussian diagonalization methods to the generally non-Hermitian reduced spacetime density matrix and determine its complete nonzero spectrum in the generic regular case, together with all integer R\'enyi moments. The real-time replica construction identifies these moments with Lorentzian branch-point twist-operator correlation functions. We test this identification against the full four-point function on a circle, boundary two-point functions with Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions, and massive form-factor predictions, finding quantitative agreement in both magnitude and phase across distinct causal regimes. The boundary setup exhibits a finite causally connected window in which every integer R\'enyi entropy is real, showing that reality is not equivalent to causal disconnection. These results provide a microscopic lattice foundation for timelike entanglement and for Lorentzian twist-operator methods beyond equal-time regions.

hep-th

Landau-Ginzburg description of an exceptional ${\mathcal N}=1$ minimal model

The $\mathcal N=1$ superconformal minimal model with $m=12$ and the exceptional modular invariant $(E_6,D_8)$ is the unitary minimal model of the super-$W_3$ algebra. We propose its Landau-Ginzburg description using two real scalar superfields with the cubic superpotential ${\cal W}=g_1 XY^2/2 + g_2X^3/6$. For $g_1=g_2$, this superpotential is known to describe a product of two $m=3$ $\mathcal N=1$ superconformal minimal models, which is the $m=10$ model with the $(D_6,E_6)$ modular invariant. The exceptional $m=12$ superconformal minimal model is realized at a different fixed point of the same theory. Testing this Landau-Ginzburg description requires the fusion ring of the minimal model, which we obtain from the modular data of the extended algebra. The fusion ring has a $\mathbb Z_2$ grading by chiral fermion parity that the ordinary fusion coefficients do not determine. This grading, composed with conjugation, gives the generator of the R-parity $\mathbb Z_2^{R}$ of the Landau-Ginzburg theory. We then treat the theory with superpotential $\cal W$ as a Gross-Neveu-Yukawa model in $d=4-\epsilon$ and find a weakly coupled infrared fixed point with $g_1/g_2=3/2+\mathcal O(\epsilon)$, at which supersymmetry emerges. We also describe the renormalization group flow from this fixed point to the decoupled fixed point with $g_1=g_2$. The operator dimensions at the coupled fixed point, continued to $d=2$, agree approximately with their values in the $m=12$ superconformal minimal model. Finally, we estimate the scaling dimensions in the new interacting $d=3$ $\mathcal N=1$ superconformal field theory.

hep-th

Detecting one-dimensional bosonic SPT phases via twisted entropic order parameter

Entanglement asymmetry, introduced by F. Ares, S. Murciano and P. Calabrese, provides a density-matrix diagnostic of symmetry breaking and successfully captures the Landau data associated with a broken symmetry pattern. However, it is by now well established that gapped quantum many-body systems can exhibit phases which are not characterized solely by Landau symmetry breaking. A fundamental example is a symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phase, and the ordinary definition of entanglement asymmetry is insensitive to this topological information. In this work we introduce a refined quantity, which we call the twisted entropic order parameter, designed to detect SPT phases from reduced density matrices, particularly focusing on one-dimensional bosonic systems. The key ingredient in our construction is an ancilla degrees of freedom that coherently records the untwisted state and the twisted state associated to a one-ended topological defect of unbroken symmetry, so that the enlarged density matrix retains the charge carried by the defect endpoint. We demonstrate our proposal in concrete lattice models and further generalize it beyond ordinary group symmetries, establishing its ability to diagnose SPT phases. This provides a first step toward a unified entanglement-asymmetry framework for diagnosing quantum phases of matter.

hep-th